Zhang Yimou’s latest
feature film “Hero” is a box office phenomenon in China and also the most
costly Asian film ever made tipping the scales at about 240 million HK$. It
would immediately spark comparisons to Ang Lee’s “Crouching Tiger, Hidden
Dragon” for aggressive use of the absurdist martial arts ballet sequences with
all but the remnants of supporting wires gracefully floating fiery combatants
of a duel. Asian cinema has been producing these extravaganzas for years prior
to “Crouching Tiger...” but many western audiences garnered their first
exposure with Lee’s action infused soap opera.

This is the
extended version of Zhang Yimou's HERO (also known as the
Director's Cut). It has about 10 extra minutes beyond that of the more
widely seen theatrical edition. We have extensively compared the
theatrical versions on DVD HERE.
Although the EDKO is far superior to the Guang Dong Face release it is
still far behind the progressively transferred Japanese Elite Theatrical
edition available
HERE in terms of overall quality. The Guang Dong is quite faded and
hazy. The color balance has been deeply affected and for those interested
in seeing Zhang's extended version the EDKO will probably be the best
release available.